Friday, April 6, 2012

Night trek to Kabbal Durga Betta on Republic Day




When I was a kid in school, I remember being very excited about the Republic Day Celebration with flag hoisting at 08:30 AM, National anthem and most importantly the cookies,snacks and chocolates. I always admired the freedom fighters and felt proud to be an Indian. Times change, as now I was busy with the corporate life schedule and Republic day was just another day to relax at home for all my colleagues. But I decided to change this year and make it adventurous and memorable for life. 

I then chose to decide for a Night trek with a group of 14 people to a place nearby to Bangalore called the Kabbal Durga Betta. The distance from the city was about 75 kms directing towards Kanakpura Road. We started our journey at 10 PM in a pattern that bikers love the most. I was enjoying my ride with my lovely Red Karizma speeding smooth on the black bed with white strips parting it to half. Keeping the swift mostly onto the left side, I could feel the chill breeze hitting my face and like its romancing me through the journey. While experiencing this pleasure, I could clearly see the moon shining bright white and talking to me though the travel with immense love. The company of bikes, friends, night, moon and the stars was just the best combination for my trip. 

The ride was about 2 hours roughly including the tea and smoke break. We reached the place, so called the base point of the trek and parked our vehicles and took out the gears, torch and sleeping bed. The guide who had done more than 250 treks in his life had joined us to initially brief about entire trek. We were introduced to the group and had the sight of the finish line where we all as a team had to reach the point.

The enthu was right, the passion was tight, the target was on height and it was a dream night. 




Mumbai meri jaan

This time my travel was planned to Mumbai earlier called as Bombay. But if you ask me, I call it as the " City of Dreams " where huge mass comes with a dream to make a fortune in this city. If you take a flight to land in Chathrapathi Shivaji Airport, you at first might think its "City of slum" and recollect the famous movie called Slumdog Millionaire. You aint wrong but I suggest you dont judge the city so soon. There is a huge lots to offer in Mumbai.

I decided to explore Mumbai as an traveler very new to the city or may be like a visitor for the first time. As I found myself at the Andheri East on the map of Mumbai, I met a taxi driver named Manoj ji, who hailed from Lucknow. He at first tried to gauge my knowledge of the city and language i spoke. I was comfortable talking to him in Hindi and asked him to take me to the hotel where my accommodation was booked. It was nice to know that they were warm in their approach and nice.

I reached the Khar West near Bandra, where my accommodation at Hotel Ramee Residency was booked. I gave the money to the driver and was only shocked to see the 2 rupee change offered back in return. The first lesson I learnt was that these guys respect each penny and believe in working hard to make a living.

Lesson 1: Value each rupee that you earn or spend. 

Lesson 2: Every Hard work gets its reward only at the right time. So love your work and respect your occupation. 




The pic above is taken at the Hotel room.